Move over, Mel

We held an online fantasy football draft last night for a league that I'm the commish for, so I feel obliged to comment on its results. The league started off as a small league with just Chang, Andrew, myself, and Ruth to continue the league we started last year, but since there were other folks who wanted to join and Chang's was already full, this became the overflow. Now that it's larger than Chang's it will soon be the dominant league :) The folks that have since joined are Gerald, Jeremy, Gina, Dean, Jeff, and Eric... without further ado, draft commentary:

Round 1
1. L. Tomlinson - Pansies
2. S. Alexander - Tighty Whiteys
3. P. Manning - Pocket Pairs
4. P. Holmes - Whoosh
5. E. James - aladdin look...
6. M. Harrison - G Dogg Jr.
7. W. McGahee - max_is_mine!
8. R. Moss - Gouts
9. J. Lewis - P Raise 200
10. C. Dillon - Taiwanese Ta...

Intriguing Pick: None; you can't really win the draft in the first round, but you certainly can lose it. Most of the picks went as expected, except...

Questionable Pick: M. Harrison; unfortunately, G Dogg had some technical difficulties so Y! picked up the drafting, but he probably would have been there the next round. Not a huge mistake, but definitely the only questionable pick

Round 2
11. D. Culpepper - Taiwanese Ta...
12. D. Davis - P Raise 200
13. D. McAllister - Gouts
14. J. Jones - max_is_mine!
15. T. Barber - G Dogg Jr.
16. C. Portis - aladdin look...
17. D. McNabb - Whoosh
18. R. Johnson - Pocket Pairs
19. K. Jones - Tighty Whiteys
20. M. Vick - Pansies

Intriguing Pick: T. Barber; the man I tried to trade for a sack of beans last year absolutely dominanted. On pure numbers alone, easily a first round pick. But solid value here in a bounceback from round 1.

Questionable Pick: M. Vick; the guy's an exciting player, but I hate him in fantasy, even with his rushing yards. Although, if you play +1 pt per int, sack, and fumble, he's so dominant it's ridiculous.

Round 3
21. C. Johnson - Pansies
22. M. Bulger - Tighty Whiteys
23. A. Johnson - Pocket Pairs
24. A. Green - Whoosh
25. T. Holt - aladdin look...
26. T. Green - G Dogg Jr.
27. B. Westbrook - max_is_mine!
28. C. Martin - Gouts
29. R. Wayne - P Raise 200
30. J. Bettis - Taiwanese Ta...

Intriguing Pick: A. Green; a former top 5 lock, if he can pull his act together, this is a huge steal to pair up with the Priest to give Jer some scary RBs.

Questionable Pick: J. Bettis; the Duce is a little gimpy and Bettis got a bunch of TDs last year, but even he thinks he can't last a full season. What a puss...

Round 4
31. T. Gonzalez - Taiwanese Ta...
32. A. Gates - P Raise 200
33. S. Jackson - Gouts
34. T. Owens - max_is_mine!
35. W. Dunn - G Dogg Jr.
36. J. Horn - aladdin look...
37. T. Bell - Whoosh
38. Ro. Williams - Pocket Pairs
39. J. Witten - Tighty Whiteys
40. L. Jordan - Pansies

Intriguing Pick: T. Owens; fallen from 2nd to 4th round given his crazy antics, but he's dominant and a steal here if he plays

Questionable Pick: Ro. Williams; I like the guy, but he could have been had later

Round 5
41. H. Ward - Pansies
42. D. Bennett - Tighty Whiteys
43. Mi. Clayton - Pocket Pairs
44. J. Walker - Whoosh
45. J. Arrington - aladdin look...
46. A. Crumpler - G Dogg Jr.
47. D. Jackson - max_is_mine!
48. B. Favre - Gouts
49. K. Collins - P Raise 200
50. L. Evans - Taiwanese Ta...

Intriguing Pick: D. Bennett; Whiteys picked up the best available white WR, without him the team would have been toast

Questionable Pick: L. Evans; see Ro. Williams in previous round

Round 6
51. D. Mason - Taiwanese Ta...
52. N. Burleson - P Raise 200
53. A. Boldin - Gouts
54. S. Smith - max_is_mine!
55. A. Lelie - G Dogg Jr.
56. L. Coles - aladdin look...
57. C. Chambers - Whoosh
58. C. Williams - Pocket Pairs
59. M. Bennett - Tighty Whiteys
60. J. Shockey - Pansies

Intriguing Pick: N. Burleson; if Daunte's still going to be dominant, he has to throw to someone... Burleson's the frontrunner for that

Questionable Pick: L. Coles; he's back in NYJ with Chad, but he was pretty poor last season

Round 7
61. D. Staley - Pansies
62. B. Stokley - Tighty Whiteys
63. L. Smith - Pocket Pairs
64. D. Driver - Whoosh
65. D. Foster - aladdin look...
66. M. Muhammad - G Dogg Jr.
67. F. Taylor - max_is_mine!
68. E. Moulds - Gouts
69. J. Porter - P Raise 200
70. J. McCareins - Taiwanese Ta...

Intriguing Pick: F. Taylor; unquestionably top RB talent, but he needs to return to full health to showcase those skills.

Questionable Pick: J. McCareins; see Ro. Williams and L. Evans

Round 8
71. A. Vinatieri - Taiwanese Ta...
72. T. Jones - P Raise 200
73. T. Heap - Gouts
74. T. Brady - max_is_mine!
75. J. Elam - G Dogg Jr.
76. M. Hasselbeck - aladdin look...
77. R. McMichael - Whoosh
78. Ma. Clayton - Pocket Pairs
79. D. Branch - Tighty Whiteys
80. I. Bruce - Pansies

Intriguing Pick: T. Jones; the longer Benson holds out, the less likely he'll contribute this year. TJ's looked good in preseason so far, too.

Questionable Pick: D. Branch; 1) he's not white and 2) there were a lot better non-white players available

Round 9
81. D. Akers - Pansies
82. M. Stover - Tighty Whiteys
83. R. Brown - Pocket Pairs
84. Baltimore - Whoosh
85. Ji. Smith - aladdin look...
86. K. Barlow - G Dogg Jr.
87. L. Fitzgerald - max_is_mine!
88. R. Longwell - Gouts
89. M. Anderson - P Raise 200
90. M. Faulk - Taiwanese Ta...

Intriguing Pick: K. Barlow; another steal to get a talented starting RB this late.. they'll need him to keep the pressure off A. Smith

Questionable Pick: M. Stover; what a boring white kicker

Round 10
91. Philadelphia - Taiwanese Ta...
92. New England - P Raise 200
93. Atlanta - Gouts
94. C. Benson - max_is_mine!
95. Buffalo - G Dogg Jr.
96. Da. Clark - aladdin look...
97. J. Hall - Whoosh
98. Ro. Smith - Pocket Pairs
99. C. Palmer - Tighty Whiteys
100. Pittsburgh - Pansies

Intriguing Pick: C. Palmer; Whiteys followed up a couple questionable picks with a solid one here. A ton of upside and definitely someone I was hoping to snag

Questionable Pick: C. Benson; probably still holding out and won't get much PT early, but has potential to oust T. Jones. Mostly to mess with Seahang.

Round 11
101. D. Brees - Pansies
102. E. Johnson - Tighty Whiteys
103. K. Brown - Pocket Pairs
104. C. Brown - Whoosh
105. C. Rogers - aladdin look...
106. A. Brooks - G Dogg Jr.
107. E. Kennison - max_is_mine!
108. J. Delhomme - Gouts
109. S. McNair - P Raise 200
110. J. Plummer - Taiwanese Ta...

Intriguing Pick: J. Delhomme; damn good pick... my only satisfaction is that I wouldn't have gotten him anyway because Seahang was targetting him too. Just look at his numbers and compare to drafted QBs starting from Vick. Quietly very solid.

Questionable Pick: K. Brown; I know you wanted to keep paired names, but in the 11th? Nobody would have taken him... and his name is Kris for crying out loud.

Round 12
111. M. Robinson - Taiwanese Ta...
112. B. Edwards - P Raise 200
113. R. Droughns - Gouts
114. C. Pennington - max_is_mine!
115. S. Moss - G Dogg Jr.
116. B. Leftwich - aladdin look...
117. T. Duckett - Whoosh
118. L. Johnson - Pocket Pairs
119. K. Curtis - Tighty Whiteys
120. P. Burress - Pansies

Intriguing Pick: L. Johnson; at this point, you're looking for upside and there's no higher upside than if the Priest gets injured with LJ ready to step in and dominate. Guessing Jer would've snapped him up if he was participating live

Questionable Pick: K. Curtis; hard to say since most players here do have intriguing upside, but I'll pick on the white guy

Round 13
121. J. Wiggins - Pansies
122. B. Hoover - Tighty Whiteys
123. New York - Pocket Pairs
124. T. Houshmandzadeh - Whoosh
125. T. Henry - aladdin look...
126. L. Suggs - G Dogg Jr.
127. J. Putzier - max_is_mine!
128. Ke. Johnson - Gouts
129. M. Vanderjagt - P Raise 200
130. B. Franks - Taiwanese Ta...

Intriguing Pick: T. Houshmandzadeh; with a name like that, how can I not mention him

Questionable Pick: B. Hoover; Genius makes me laugh

Round 14
131. S. Janikowski - Taiwanese Ta...
132. C. Buckhalter - P Raise 200
133. M. Shipp - Gouts
134. K. Colbert - max_is_mine!
135. D. Blaylock - G Dogg Jr.
136. J. Wilkins - aladdin look...
137. B. Griese - Whoosh
138. New York - Pocket Pairs
139. C. Cooley - Tighty Whiteys
140. Carolina - Pansies

Intriguing Pick: C. Cooley; I don't really like anyone here (well, maybe Keary's upsdie), but the dude has a good name and where else would you find RB - TE

Questionable Pick: C. Buckhalter; hahahhahahhahahhahaha

Round 15
141. V. Morency - Pansies
142. Dallas - Tighty Whiteys
143. E. Manning - Pocket Pairs
144. S. Graham - Whoosh
145. Seattle - aladdin look...
146. Denver - G Dogg Jr.
147. Tampa Bay - max_is_mine!
148. D. Graham - Gouts
149. H. Miller - P Raise 200
150. M. Pittman - Taiwanese Ta...

Intriguing Pick: M. Pittman; actually has a decent shot at retaining some PT, nice value this late

Questionable Pick: V. Morency; just because I have no idea who he is

Round 16
151. Kansas City - Taiwanese Ta...
152. T. Williamson - P Raise 200
153. L. Tynes - Gouts
154. J. Brown - max_is_mine!
155. C. Owens - G Dogg Jr.
156. E. Shelton - aladdin look...
157. J. Kleinsasser - Whoosh
158. Ro. Johnson - Pocket Pairs
159. Minnesota Tighty - Whiteys
160. M. Williams - Pansies

Intriguing Pick: M. Williams; might be buried on the depth chart in the early going, but clearly lots of talent with a fragile starter in front of him

Questionable Pick: J. Kleinsasser; ah, the fruits of a Y! draft, a last round TE with no upside

Dang, that took a really long time... to wrap up quickly, obligatory draft grades and season outlook. This stuff is usually premium content on sports sites, so you're lucky I'm offering this for free:

max_is_mine!
Grade: A
Outlook: It's her league, so she's the frontrunner. Strong starters at both RB/WR with good depth. Only real hole is at TE with the Putz.

P Raise 200
Grade: A-
Outlook: Strong team with a potential hole at the flex if Thomas Jones and Mike Anderson both lose their starting jobs. Will be tough to beat if either remain and the Raiders passing attack meets expectations.

G Dogg Jr.
Grade: A-
Outlook: Very quietly solid all-around. Dunn, Barlow, T Green, Mush... none are flashy, but put up numbers. Just need more of the same to be competitive.

aladdin lookalike
Grade: A-
Outlook: Some definite question marks, especially at QB. Between Deshaun/JJ, Rogers/Coles, Hasselbeck/Leftwich, need one of each pair to step up to be strong.

Gouts
Grade: B+
Outlook: Three very good RBs and the top WR in the game. Just needs some of the other WRs to step up and be respectable to field a consistently strong team.

Pocket Pairs
Grade: B+
Outlook: Has the all-world QB in Manning, but needs some RBs to pan out to be strong. Cadillac and Ronnie are frontrunners but not guaranteed to have it sewn up. His young WRs need to keep stepping up. Will be interesting to see how he manages waiver pickups while keeping true to his name...

Whoosh
Grade: B
Outlook: Tough to autodraft; two potentially great backs, but both come with baggage (off injury or a bad year). Other two RBs will be great *if* they get the majority of carries. Could be a real boom or bust depending on his RBs.

Pansies
Grade: B
Outlook: Two strong RBs and Brees was a good backup for Vick. I'm a little hesitant to trust Duce in the flex.. he's banged up and gets no TDs. If Vick learns how to throw or Brees repeats from last year, this would be a strong team.

Taiwanese Taigerz
Grade: B-
Outlook: Some real questionable RBs after Dillon (Bettis is a puss and Marshall is old). With any luck, the reaches at WR will pan out to pair up with Daunte and Tony G at the other spots. Running back is really really iffy, though.

Tighty Whiteys
Grade: C+
Outlook: Had to dish out a C somewhere. Whiteys actually ended up with three pretty good RBs. The WRs are okay, but fall off after Stokely and he has no depth to speak of. Now I'm mostly likely going to lose to him.


Phew! That's finally it; can't wait till the season starts and see how all this shakes out. Then again, there's still one more draft waiting in the wings...